U.S. to pull out of UNESCO

The United States has made a decision to withdraw from the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), AFP is reporting on Thursday.

Senior U.S. officials, including U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, have issued repeated denunciations of UNESCO.

UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova said she received official notification from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, adding she expressed "profound regret at the decision of the United States of America to withdraw from UNESCO". There were speculations going on since a bit of time and the same was formally announced on Thursday.

The US stopped financing UNESCO after the organization moved to admit the Palestinian Authority as a member in 2011. Since then, the UNESCO has maintained its office in Paris headquarters.

According to the American Foreign Policy news site, the White House is planning to pull out of UNESCO in an attempt to save money and due to the United Nations body's anti-Israel bias. At such a time, an announcement worth such magnitude can be very influencing. This is not the first time that USA has made a decision to pull out of the worldwide cultural agency, it has done the same in 1984 under Ronald Reagan.

The administration led by Trump in the U.S. has hinted towards making no changes in the proposed budget over the funding to UNESCO. However, it had rejoined the organisation in 2003.